Hutt, Hutt... Hutt... Hutt!

In a rare double-header, the Hutts swept both games tonight. That make this three Hutt victories in a row.

Game #1

After a surprisingly unaggressive initial Rebel move by General Wood, the Hutts under Gamorran Leader LaBan moved up to six resource planets.  The Empire was in a strong position, but extraordinarily poor rolls caused massive casualties and limited their faction card gain.  Sith Horak was already in dire straits. 

By turn two the Rebels controlled the Wild Space and the Hutts crept up to seven resource planets.  Once again the Storm Troopers had catastrophic dice rolls and huge numbers of casualties.  They failed to make any headway against the Wild Space.  The Rebels soon controlled the Ison Corridor as well. 

With swelling numbers of reinforcements, it looked to be the Rebel's game, but on turn four the Hutts broke out and swept up the remaining three resource planets they needed.

Game Hutts.

Game #2

In contrast to the quick first game, after Ric and Kent switched sides, the game degenerated into a long slog.  No sectors were controlled, faction card straights were rare or ineffectual.  Rebels and Storm Troopers fought to a stalemate with about 14 systems each, plus or minus. 

The Hutts repeatedly reached 8 or 9 systems only to be beaten back to 5 or 6.  The heavily fortified resource planets weren't accessible.  Even after the first Death Star was taken out, the Imperial starbases repelled all attacks.  The Rebels pushed the Force Meter far to the Light side, but were unable to put together an effective assault on the well hidden base of the Emperor. 

Two minor mistakes led to the downfall of the major factions.  First, with a new Death Star, the Emperor elected to destroy a Rebel outpost instead of a resource planet.  Then the Rebels reinforced to Aldebaran, to prepare for an attack on Tattooine.  That left Duro vulnerable and the Hutts came pouring out of the El'Rood Sector and swept away Sluis Van, Sullust, and Duro for the victory. 

Hutt victory.

3-2-1

Yes, it all started with my roll of a 3, then Ric's roll of a 2, and Kent's 1.  So I chose Hutts and Ric signed up for the Rebels.  Kent was stuck with the Empire. 

Then it continued... I rolled a 3, Ric got a 2, and Kent finished with, yes, a 1.  So Hutts went first, Rebels second, and Storm Troopers last.  With that, the Hutts had 5 resource planets to start with, Bespin, Sullust, Sluis Van, Gamorr, and Nar Shadarr.

The Rebels did very well straight out of the gates on Turn 1 -- captured most of the Core Worlds and knocked the Empire back to 4 reinforcements.  The Hutts quietly took one system from each opponent, just for the 2 cards.  The Storm Troopers managed to gain back what was lost, but they rolled something on the order of 12 one's in two turns. 

The game swung back and forth for two more turns with the Rebels gaining more ground, but not taking any starbases out.  Kent's luck continued to run cold.  The Imperial legions were stopped at Endor by a Hutt faction card that destroyed their bomber.  The Hutts slowly gained cards and a bomber of their own that ended up on Falleen.  They were frustrated at Kessel when the Orders Never Came. 

In Turn 4 the Rebels launched a powerful offensive that took out the starbase on Balmorra and pushed the Empire into a dangerous situation.  But the Hutts cashed in a faction card straight and used another to deplete the garrison on Rodia.  That allowed them to capture Rodia with 3 legions, run from Toydaria through Kessel to Ord Mandell with an adequate force abetted by a new capital ship, and still have plenty of legions to strike out for Duro.  Not only did they capture that system, but enough was left to comfortably take Tattooine for a Hutt victory. 

Rebel Rousing

The Great Hail Storm of Omwat

Peetza da Hutt came through with real live pizza despite a torrential downpour and significant hail storm.  The arroyos were running and so were the gutters.  His reward:  half a bottle of Chianti.

That in part might explain our failure to recognize arch-Rebel Wood's dastardly setup with a plan to control the Outer Rim on the very first turn.  He was successful in capturing the sector, but he failed to take Kurt from the Hutts.  That left him vulnerable to the Imperial counter-attack that swept into Kurt, through Balmorra and into Yavin 4.

Yet More Damn Lies and Statistics

Here's the final, all encompassing data set going back to December 2008.  We've played over 230 games and probably closer to 250 or even 300... the early games were only scored by faction, not by player.  They're not included here.  And we'd been playing for some months before I started the blog. 

Player	Summary Percent	Victories	Faction	Total	Percent
Horak	32%	74	Rebels	20	27%
			Hutts	42	57%
			Empire	12	16%
LaBan	39%	89	Rebels	18	20%
			Hutts	57	64%
			Empire	14	16%
Wood	29%	65	Rebels	25	38%
			Hutts	30	46%
			Empire	10	15%
		228		228
Faction		Victories	Player
Rebels	28%	63	Horak	20	32%
			LaBan	18	29%
			Wood	25	40%
Hutts	57%	129	Horak	42	33%
			LaBan	57	44%
			Wood	30	23%
Empire	16%	36	Horak	12	33%
			LaBan	14	39%
			Wood	10	28%
		228		228
Combinations
Rebels	Hutts	Empire	Count	Percent
Horak	Wood	Laban	38	17%
LaBan	Horak	Wood	40	18%
Horak	LaBan	Wood	35	16%
Wood	LaBan	Horak	50	23%
Wood	Horak	Laban	33	15%
LaBan	Wood	Horak	23	11%

With all the attributable data points from the early years included, Horak edges past Wood, but LaBan holds the lead by 15 victories.  

The Empire still sucks compared to the other factions.  And we all play Storm Troopers equally lousy.  Kent is worse as the Hutts but better as the Rebels than either Ric or Karl.  Hmm? 

Interestingly, back in 2008-2009 we frequently played 2, sometimes 3, games in an evening.  I can only imagine that we were all eating at home first and then only having snacks or dessert over here. 

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

With data now going back to November 2010, it's clear that the Empire has the harder time of it and the Hutts enjoy a significant advantage.  This suggests an Imperial strategy:  first, destroy the Hutts, while hiding the starbases.  Then go after the Rebels.

The League of Crafty Ass Bastards

The Despoiler of the Galaxy Gets Despoiled

In keeping with our tradition of allowing the birthday boy to choose his faction, Kent went with the Hutts.  General LaBan picked up the yellow hoard and I was left with the e-vile Empire. Setup was typical, leaving the Hutts with 4 resource planets. 

The Survey

Since November

I've begun compiling statistics from the blog results and have backtracked from today through to November 2013.  The results are enlightening.  (The orange highlight is simply my input area for the data points; everything else is calculated with spreadsheet formulas.)

The players are evenly matched (8, 10 & 9 wins each), but the Hutts have a huge advantage (63% wins).  Horak and Wood usually win as Hutts, while LaBan actually does slightly better as the Empire.  Basically, everyone sucks at playing the Rebels. 

Player	Summary Percent	Victories	Faction	2014	Percent
Horak	30%	8	Rebels	1	13%
			Hutts	7	88%
			Empire	0	0%
LaBan	37%	10	Rebels	1	10%
			Hutts	4	40%
			Empire	5	50%
Wood	33%	9	Rebels	2	22%
			Hutts	6	67%
			Empire	1	11%
		27		27
Faction		Victories	Player
Rebels	15%	4	Horak	1	25%
			LaBan	1	25%
			Wood	2	50%
Hutts	63%	17	Horak	7	41%
			LaBan	4	24%
			Wood	6	35%
Empire	22%	6	Horak	0	0%
			LaBan	5	83%
			Wood	1	17%
		27		27

Horak's strongest play is as the Hutts, for example, LaBan:Rebels, Horak:Hutts, and Wood:Empire.   Of the 4 matches like this since November, Horak has won 50%.  Of the converse match Wood:Rebels, Horak:Hutts, and LaBan:Empire, Horak wins 57% of the time. 

I'll be curious how the details hold up as I gather more of the 2013 data.

It's Not Over Until the Fat Hutt Sings

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

Rebel Leader Ric began the game with a resounding set of attacks, nearly conquering the Core World (leaving Hapes in Imperal hands) and the Ison Corridor (leaving only Bespin in Imperial control).  Horak the Hutt struggled to get 6 resource planets, but gained excellent faction cards.  Sith Lord Kent countered with concerted attacks, but the "Money is Power" card stopped his major offensive. 

As the game progressed, the Empire continued to expand with an enlarged fleet, well-hidden starbases, and excellent dice rolls.  While the Rebels suffered most of the damage, the Hutts were beaten back to 4 resource planets while losing 2 resource systems and their garrisons to the destruction wrought by the Death Star.  Not only that but those systems were Gamorra and Sluis Van, effectively isolating 3 starbases from the Rebels.  Only a thin Hutt garrison of 4 legions held on to Excarga.

By the end of the sixth turn, only a handful of Rebels remained, hidden in the Mid Rim.  A huge Imperial fleet with storm troopers to match were stationed in Falleen, poised to bring down the final blow on dastardly Rebels. 

As it were, the Hutts got one last chance:  a faction card straight.  The minimal garrison at Ord Mantell took Yavin 4, but was prevented from taking Gamorr,  Attacking from Nar Shaddar, a small force took both Ylessia and Kessel.  Resource planets, 6.  A large, reinforced Hutt battle group on Wayland captured Duro and a small subunit made it to Sullust from Corellia.  Resource planets, 8.  Another small portion attacked Kurt with the objective of finishing off Gamorr, but they failed to advance far enough to be a threat.  The large fleet on Hoth easily swept into Bespin.  Resource planets, 9.  In desperation, the force on Excarga assaulted the 3 storm trooper legions garrisoning the starbase on Elom.  In a close fought battle, it came down to one 6-sided attack roll against one 8-sided defense roll.  A lucky 6 against an unlucky 4 gave the game (and a death mark for the rest of the year) to the Hutts.